The actor who would do anything to be in a Coen brothers movie

On By Littum

The Coen Brothers - Directors - Ethan Coen - Joel Cohen

(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)

Joel Daniel and Ethan Jesse Coen are one of the greatest directing duos of all time. The Coen brothers (with Joel being the oldest by about three years) are celebrated for their instantly recognizable classics across a range of genres. Whether it’s the stoner comedy of The Big Lebowskithe utter madness of Raising Arizonaor the neo-western realism of No country for old menyou can count on their films to deliver a memorable experience.

One actor who knows how good siblings can be is Josh Brolin. He has been in three of their films – No country for old men, Real Gritand Hail, Caesar! – and he has been absolutely superb in every single one of them. The Coens played a significant role in helping the former child star rejuvenate his image in adulthood, which may be why he’s prepared to go to some pretty extreme lengths for them.

“There’s nothing I would say no to,” Brolin shared The independent about working with the boys from Minnesota. “It could be terrible and I’d still say yes. They could say ‘we’re going to do a Walt Disney story about pornography’ and I’d be like ‘good, let’s do it’. I don’t care. I just get it , it’s fun to be with them. And it’s not necessarily fun, I’m not on set laughing all the time, but I really appreciate their level of discomfort and what I think makes them great writers is all they have, you know”.

It’s not like this is out of the realm of possibility, given the Coen brothers’ penchant for pushing the envelope in their films. Steve Buscemi met a gruesome end Fargo (good luck putting him back together), John Goodman went on a bloody rampage Barton Finkand then there is Burn after readingwhich is disturbing in more ways than one. So far, Josh Brolin has managed to avoid anything really brutal in their projects. As he meets his end in a few of their films, he reveals which ones would spoil the experience for those yet to be seen.

One of the reasons Brolin is so loyal to Joel and Ethan is because of how straightforward they are. “A lot of directors feed you a lot of stuff,” the veteran actor explained. “You’re either yelled at or manipulated into a certain performance by what they think they’re manipulating you into, over-directing. Or there are other people who don’t really know what they are doing, or who give you a lot of compliments and think it will help. But neither do Joel and Ethan. They just do the job. They’re pleasant while doing it, but many, many, many times I’ve finished a scene and then sought their approval, but they’re already moving on to the next set because we’re done. That’s the point, we’re done with that scene.”

The Coens have a reputation for being uncannily in sync on set, but according to Brolin, this is all rumours. “We all play up this thing about how weird and goddamn weird they are and quiet and all that,” Brolin said of the Coen believers. “But it really isn’t.”

“You tell the press things like ‘they’re really weird and they’re like one mind in two heads’ and (the press) are like ‘one mind in two heads, that’s a good soundbite’ or whatever,” he continued he. “You just lend yourself to it and you know you do. I just caught myself in an interview in front of millions of people and I died in my own bullshit for a few seconds.”

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